News:

The Book of the Diner is well worth preserving. I only wish it had reached a broader audience when it might have mattered more. That is a testament to the blindness of our culture. If there is a future to look back from, one difficult question historians will have to ask is how we let this happen, when so many saw it coming. This site has certainly aggregated enough information and critical thinking to prove that.[/b]

AuthorTopic: Monsta-rama's monsterous delights (Read 8491 times)

More than half of China's rivers have disappeared since 1990. The chief reasons given for this alarming decline are climate change and errors made mistakes by early cartographers in determining what a river is. Right...

ABOUT 28,000 rivers have disappeared from China's state maps, an absence seized upon by environmentalists as evidence of the irreversible natural cost of developmental excesses.

More than half of the rivers previously thought to exist in China appear to be missing, according to the 800,000 surveyors who compiled the first national water census, leaving Beijing fumbling to explain the cause.

Only 22,909 rivers covering an area of 100sq km were located by surveyors, compared with the more than 50,000 in the 1990s, a three-year study by the Ministry of Water Resources and the National Bureau of Statistics found.

Officials blame the apparent loss on climate change, arguing that it has caused waterways to vanish, and on mistakes by earlier cartographers. But environmental experts say the disappearance of the rivers is a real and direct manifestation of headlong, ill-conceived development, where projects are often imposed without public consultation.

The UN considers China one of the 13 countries most affected by water scarcity, as industrial toxins have poisoned historic water sources and were blamed last year for turning the Yangtze an alarming shade of red.

This month, the carcasses of about 16,000 pigs dumped in the river were pulled from its waters, and 1000 dead ducks were found dumped this week in the Nanhe River in Sichuan province.

Ma Jun, a water expert at the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, said the missing rivers were a cause for "great attention" and underscored the urgent need for a more sustainable mode of development.

"One of the major reasons is the over-exploitation of the underground water reserves, while environmental destruction is another reason, because desertification of forests has caused a rain shortage in the mountain areas," Mr Ma said.

Large hydroelectric projects such as the Three Gorges Dam, which diverted trillions of litres of water to drier regions, were likely to have played a role, he said.

The census also charted a decline in water quality. The report came as new Premier Li Keqiang pledged greater transparency on pollution, which Communist Party rulers fear is a potential catalyst for social unrest.

"We must take the steps in advance, rather than hurry to handle these issues when they have caused a disturbance in society," Mr Li said, according to state media.

The missing rivers provoked wistful recollections among Chinese internet users. "The rivers I used to play around have disappeared; the only ones left are polluted, we can't eat the fish in them, they are all bitter," a person using the name Pippi Shuanger wrote on Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter.

Looks like Japan is upping the ante with its latest aggressive quantitative easing program that will pump around $43 billion worth of yen into the economy every month. That is over half the US's program and if taken on a relative basis this program is even more aggressive than Bernanke's open ended QE policy. Their previous policies have resulted in the yen losing 20% of its value. While this has helped to boosted export numbers the economic drag caused by higher priced imports particularly energy has caused Japan's trade deficit to widen even further from this currency depreciation. It just makes one wonder if further rounds of QE will do anything to help the trade balance. One thing it does help is it keeps interest payments on those bonds down which I think this is the real reason for the Japanese doing this. It is just another case of extent and pretend.

Japan's economy has been hurt by a variety of factors, not least decades of deflation or falling prices.

Falling prices discourage people from spending and companies from investing, and that has trapped Japan in a cycle of sluggish growth and recession.

Given the slowdown in Japan's export sector in recent years, reviving domestic demand has become ever more crucial to spurring a fresh wave of economic growth in the country.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has also said that stoking inflation is key to boosting domestic consumption.

Under pressure from the government, the central bank had doubled its inflation target to 2%, earlier this year.

Analysts said that while achieving that target was an uphill battle, the central bank's policies indicated that it was moving in the right direction.

"Achieving 2% inflation in two years remains quite difficult. But the possibility of that target being achieved is now much higher than before with these measures," said Yoshimasa Maruyama, chief economist as Itochu Economic Research Institute.

The yen fell against the US dollar, and Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index rose 2.2% on the central bank's decision, indicating markets were reacting positively to the extent of the stimulus measures.

'Abenomics'

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was elected last year, has been pushing for the Bank of Japan to do more to help the economy.

AnalysisRupert Wingfield-HayesBBC News, Tokyo

It's not just the volume of new money that is significant; it is where the new money will go.

His plan, a combination of big government spending as well as an aggressive central bank asset buying programme, has been dubbed Abenomics.

Mr Kuroda, who was nominated by Mr Abe for the top job at the central bank, is seen as sharing those views, which are a departure from the BOJ's previous stance.

On Thursday, the bank said it would increase its purchases of Japanese government bonds and extended the average maturity of the bonds it purchases from three years to seven years.

The bank added that it would also buy relatively riskier assets such as exchange-traded funds and real estate trust funds.

The decisions passed with unanimous votes from the board of the central bank, despite earlier reports that Mr Kuroda may not win the backing of his colleagues for the measures. The strength of support is an indication that this would mark the beginning of Mr Kuroda's shift towards more aggressive monetary easing.

Mr Kuroda has previously said that he would do "whatever it takes" to drive growth.

Analysts said the moves by the central bank indicated that he was delivering on the earlier rhetoric.

"Kuroda made good on his promise of boosting monetary easing in terms of both volume and types of assets that the bank purchases," said Junko Nishioka, chief Japan economist at RBS Securities in Tokyo.

"Today's decision was far more than market expectations given some scepticism among market players beforehand that the BOJ may not decide on aggressive policy steps this week."

However, some observers have expressed concern that this new strategy may leave Japan, which already has the largest debt pile of any industrialised nation, even more in the red.

I'm wondering if the Japanese government calculates inflation in a similar way to the way we do it here. I would guess that it is heavily weighted to real estate and ignores rising food and fuel costs.

I'm wondering if the Japanese government calculates inflation in a similar way to the way we do it here. I would guess that it is heavily weighted to real estate and ignores rising food and fuel costs.

Japan like most countries uses the CPI method in measuring official inflation. Like most nations, food and fuel costs are included in this index although one can argue if these areas are weighted correctly. Here is what the trading economics site says in regards to Japanese inflation:

Quote from: Trading ECONOMICS

JAPAN INFLATION RATE

The inflation rate in Japan was recorded at -0.70 percent in February of 2013. Inflation Rate in Japan is reported by the Ministry of Internal Affairs & Communications. Historically, from 1958 until 2013, Japan Inflation Rate averaged 3.20 Percent reaching an all time high of 25 Percent in February of 1974 and a record low of -2.52 Percent in October of 2009. In Japan, the most important categories in the consumer price index are Food (25 percent of total weight) and Housing (21 percent). Transportation and communications accounts for 14 percent; Culture and recreation for 11.5 percent; Fuel, light and water charges for 7 percent; Medical care for 4.3 percent; Clothes and footwear for 4 percent. Furniture and household utensils, Education and Miscellaneous goods and services account for the remaining.

As far I am aware most countries do not make the hedonic or substitution adjustments the US does but I could be wrong there...

American executive Charles "Chip" Starnes, the co-founder of Coral Springs, Florida-headquartered Speciality Medical Devices, has been held hostage by Chinese workers at a Beijing factory since last Friday over worker demands for severance packages.

We spoke with his younger brother John Starnes over the phone earlier today.

"It's been tough. It's kind of like a movie. I get word Friday that my brother is being held hostage in a facility in China," he said, adding, "It's been surreal, to say the least. It's been very scary."

John has maintained contact with his brother via telephone and email, but the internet has been cut off since Friday.

He described his brother Chip's conditions up until the story broke in the news media as bad. At one point Chip went 24 hours without food and water, and was deprived of sleep. Chip also has a severe infection in his eyes, which started while he was in China.

However, the media attention has already helped improve things a bit.

"Once the news story broke, the conditions have gotten much better. My understanding is they finally got him some medical help regarding his eyes...They've given him a cot in the last day or two — He's not sleeping on the floor," he said, adding that his brother now gets three meals a day.

Chinese workers sleeping, taking shifts watching Chip

When the lock-in began, John said that the factory employees were standing in Chip's office watching him sleep. Once Chip managed to get them out, the employees started banging on the windows making it difficult for him to sleep, John explained.

Things have eased up in the last 24 to 36 hours. He said his brother now has some mobility around the factory and isn't just confined to his office.

So far, it's been impossible for him to leave, though.

Chip sent his brother some video footage from his cell phone demonstrating this. The video, which is posted below, shows him trying to leave the facility and being blocked from the exit by a bunch of factory workers.

John told us that it's his understanding that all of the entrances to the facility are blocked. He said that it's also his understanding that the Chinese authorities are outside of the facility maintaining order and the workers are inside the facility blockading him.

What's more is the factory workers are sleeping in shifts to make sure Chip doesn't leave, John explained. Chip also sent a photo showing this (See above).

The Specialty Medical Devices facility in China has been up and running for a decade. John estimated that his brother Chip has been visiting the facility once a quarter during the last ten years.

He doesn't have any family in China. None of his relatives were traveling with him at the time.

Chip's wife and three children are back in Florida. John said that it has been a very challenging time for the family.

"The stress level is high. The concerns are high. The emotions are high. We are very concerned for his safety and for his well being."

The family has been in touch with officials in the U.S. to help Chip.

When John first got word of the situation he reached out to Tony Baltimore, who does constituent outreach relations for Congressman Mike Rogers.

Thank you Chinese workers for making the PIGMEN HONOR the SANCTITY OF CONTRACTS they always mendaciously claim they respect.

Chip is likely going broke, which is why he stopped paying his Chinese Slaves.

Sadly for Chip, he has to actually show up in China ocassionally to check in on his Factory, and he made a real bad choice here on timing this visit. LOL. He SHOULD have hired some Unemployed recent Accounting Graduate and sent HER to China to check on the Factory Books!

You KNOW the economy is in rough shape when Capitalista Pigmen can't even afford to pay Chinese Coolies.

American executive Charles "Chip" Starnes, the co-founder of Coral Springs, Florida-headquartered Speciality Medical Devices, has been held hostage by Chinese workers at a Beijing factory since last Friday over worker demands for severance packages.

We spoke with his younger brother John Starnes over the phone earlier today.

"It's been tough. It's kind of like a movie. I get word Friday that my brother is being held hostage in a facility in China," he said, adding, "It's been surreal, to say the least. It's been very scary."

Interesting, isn't it, that Chinese workers are still capable of direct action compared to those who remain the the US.

My heart goes out to the poor captive pigman. I'm sure it has been "very stressful" for him and his family. As opposed to the stress endured by the Morelocks who tend his manufacturing plant.